Family, friends and students of Penn State professor Larry Hochreiter said he died Wednesday doing what he loved: teaching Penn State students.
Hochreiter, a Penn State mechanical and nuclear engineering professor, collapsed during a class Wednesday morning and was later pronounced dead at Mount Nittany Medical Center, Centre County Chief Deputy Coroner Judy Pleskonko said. Hochreiter was 67.
Hochreiter collapsed at about 10 a.m. Wednesday at the beginning of his NucE 501 (Reactor Design) class in 307 Hammond Building, said Jack Brenizer, Jr., chairman of the nuclear engineering program. Hochreiter taught at the university since 1997.
He was pronounced dead at 11:07 a.m. at the emergency department of Mount Nittany Medical Center, Pleskonko said, adding Hochreiter died of natural causes.
Hochreiter is survived by his wife, Susan, 67; his son, Paul, 28; and his daughter, Sarah, 36.
Paul Hochreiter said his father "absolutely loved his job at Penn State."
"His students and his life at Penn State were his No. 1 priority," Susan said. "He lived for teaching."
Hochreiter was born in Buffalo, N.Y., and met Susan, his wife of 42 years, in graduate school at Purdue University. He then worked at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh for about 25 years before moving to State College to teach at Penn State.
Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said there were about 11 students in class when Hochreiter collapsed. The students called 911 and sought help from people in offices down the hall, she said. Three people performed CPR on him before paramedics arrived, Powers said.
Powers said Penn State Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) will work with any students who want to talk about the incident or need help dealing with it.
Brenizer said Hochreiter was beloved by his students.
"He was the kind of guy that came in at 7 a.m. and left at 5 p.m.," he said.
According to a faculty biography on the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Web site, Hochreiter won the Penn State Engineering Society's Outstanding Teaching Award in 2005.
Tamara Jurgens said she had Hochreiter for two classes, NucE 430 (Design Principles of Reactor Systems) and NucE 431 (Nuclear Reactor Core Synthesis), last year.
"He's really tough in terms of course work," Jurgens (senior-mechanical and nuclear engineering) said. "But he taught us more than anyone so far."
Hochreiter enjoyed bluegrass music, collecting stamps and model railroading; he kept a model train set in his basement and built the cars and engines himself.
Hochreiter's work ethic and accessibility endeared him to students, Brenizer said.
"He had a tough façade, but he was a pussycat underneath," Brenizer said. "He was always firm with students, but would help them out in an instant if they needed it. He tried to instill in them his own work ethic."
Brenizer said the status of Hochreiter's class is "to be determined."
Dan Skilone said he knew Hochreiter for more than five years and worked with him as both an undergraduate and a graduate student.
"As I became a grad student, I considered Dr. Hochreiter a friend and a paternal figure," Skilone (graduate-nuclear engineering) said. "In that respect and every other, I can't speak highly enough about him and his character, experience and guidance."
Skilone said he and others in the engineering department received calls Wednesday from universities, corporations, research institutions, laboratories and individuals in the nuclear and mechanical engineering industries offering condolences.
"We lost a paramount individual," Skilone said. "Perhaps the only solace we can find in his passing is that he died doing what he loved, and that was teaching."
A viewing will be held for Hochreiter from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Koch Funeral Home, 2401 S. Atherton St. A Mass of the Resurrection will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at St. John's Episcopal Church in Bellefonte.
-- Collegian Staff Writer Andrew McGill contributed to this report.
